Supercritical carbon dioxide readily induced foaming of various polymers. In that context, supercritical CO2 was applied to carbon nanotubes based polycarbonate nanocomposites to ensure their foaming ... [more ▼]

Supercritical carbon dioxide readily induced foaming of various polymers. In that context, supercritical CO2 was applied to carbon nanotubes based polycarbonate nanocomposites to ensure their foaming. Surprisingly, efficient foaming only occurs when low pressure is applied while at high pressure, no expansion of the samples was observed. This is related to the ability of supercritical carbon dioxide to induce crystallization of amorphous polycarbonate. Moreover, this behaviour is amplified by the presence of carbon nanotubes that act as nucleating agents for crystals birth. The thermal behaviour of the composites was analysed by DSC and DMA and was related to the foaming observations. The uniformity of the cellular structure was analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). By saturating the polycarbonate nanocomposites reinforced with 1 wt% of MWNTs at 100 bar and 100 °C during 16 h, microcellular foams were generated, with a density of 0.62, a cell size ranging from 0.6 to 4 μm, and a cellular density of 4.1 × 1011 cells cm−3. The high ability of these polymeric foams to absorb electromagnetic radiation was demonstrated at low MWNT content as the result of the high affinity of the polycarbonate matrix for MWNTs, and therefore to the good MWNTs dispersion. [less ▲]

The extensive development of electronic systems and telecommunications has lead to major concerns regarding electromagnetic pollution. Motivated by environmental questions and by a wide variety of ... [more ▼]

The extensive development of electronic systems and telecommunications has lead to major concerns regarding electromagnetic pollution. Motivated by environmental questions and by a wide variety of applications, the quest for materials with high efficiency to mitigate electromagnetic interferences (EMI) pollution has become a mainstream field of research. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art research in the design and characterization of polymer/carbon based composites as EMI shielding materials. After a brief introduction, in Section 1, the electromagnetic theory will be briefly discussed in Section 2 setting the foundations of the strategies to be employed to design efficient EMI shielding materials. These materials will be classified in the next section by the type of carbon fillers, involving carbon black, carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes and graphene. The importance of the dispersion method into the polymer matrix (melt-blending, solution processing, etc.) on the final material properties will be discussed. The combination of carbon fillers with other constituents such as metallic nanoparticles or conductive polymers will be the topic of Section 4. The final section will address advanced complex architectures that are currently studied to improve the performances of EMI materials and, in some cases, to impart additional properties such as thermal management and mechanical resistance. In all these studies, we will discuss the efficiency of the composites/devices to absorb and/or reflect the EMI radiation. [less ▲]

The present invention relates to a hybrid material (10) for absorbing electromagnetic radiation (60) and a method for making such a material. The hybrid material (10) comprises at least one grid panel (20 ... [more ▼]

The present invention relates to a hybrid material (10) for absorbing electromagnetic radiation (60) and a method for making such a material. The hybrid material (10) comprises at least one grid panel (20) of thickness t 1 having holes (25) traversing said thickness t 1 , at least one polymer composite material (30) of thickness t 2 filling at least partially the holes (25) of the at least one grid panel (20), said at least one polymer composite material (30) including a polymer matrix (40) and conductive particles (50) dispersed into said polymer matrix (40), characterized in that the internal surface of the holes (25) of the at least one grid panel (20) is metallic. [less ▲]

The present invention relates to a hybrid material (10) for absorbing electromagnetic radiation (60) and a method for making such a material. The hybrid material (10) comprises at least one grid panel (20 ... [more ▼]

The present invention relates to a hybrid material (10) for absorbing electromagnetic radiation (60) and a method for making such a material. The hybrid material (10) comprises at least one grid panel (20) of thickness t 1 having holes (25) traversing said thickness t 1 , at least one polymer composite material (30) of thickness t 2 filling at least partially the holes (25) of the at least one grid panel (20), said at least one polymer composite material (30) including a polymer matrix (40) and conductive particles (50) dispersed into said polymer matrix (40), characterized in that the internal surface of the holes (25) of the at least one grid panel (20) is metallic. [less ▲]

The present invention relates to a process for preparing an electromagnetic interference shielding material, or a precursor thereof, comprising a first polymer matrix and carbon conductive loads, said ... [more ▼]

The present invention relates to a process for preparing an electromagnetic interference shielding material, or a precursor thereof, comprising a first polymer matrix and carbon conductive loads, said process comprises the steps of: (a) Forming a reaction mixture comprising carbon conductive loads and a polymerizable medium said polymerizable medium comprising one or more monomers dissolved in a solvent, (b) Exposing the reaction mixture to polymerization conditions to polymerize said polymerizable medium and thus form a polymer, and (c) Forming a precipitate or an agglomerate of an electromagnetic interference shielding material made of less than 50 wt.% carbon conductive loads dispersed in the first polymer matrix formed in step (b), characterized in that, said polymer is insoluble in said solvent and in that a fraction of the polymer chains thus formed are grafted on part of the surface of the carbon conductive loads. [less ▲]

The present invention relates to a process for preparing an electromagnetic interference shielding material, or a precursor thereof, comprising a first polymer matrix and carbon conductive loads, said ... [more ▼]

The present invention relates to a process for preparing an electromagnetic interference shielding material, or a precursor thereof, comprising a first polymer matrix and carbon conductive loads, said process comprises the steps of: (a) Forming a reaction mixture comprising carbon conductive loads and a polymerizable medium said polymerizable medium comprising one or more monomers dissolved in a solvent, (b) Exposing the reaction mixture to polymerization conditions to polymerize said polymerizable medium and thus form a polymer, and (c) Forming a precipitate or an agglomerate of an electromagnetic interference shielding material made of less than 50 wt.% carbon conductive loads dispersed in the first polymer matrix formed in step (b), characterized in that, said polymer is insoluble in said solvent and in that a fraction of the polymer chains thus formed are grafted on part of the surface of the carbon conductive loads. [less ▲]

Carbon nanotube reinforced polymer foams filling a metallic honeycomb were processed and characterized for the production of hybrid materials with high electromagnetic absorption potential ... [more ▼]

Carbon nanotube reinforced polymer foams filling a metallic honeycomb were processed and characterized for the production of hybrid materials with high electromagnetic absorption potential. Electromagnetic modeling and experimental characterization of the hybrids proved that the honeycomb, acting as a hexagonal waveguide, improves the absorption properties in the gigahertz range above the cutoff frequency. The electromagnetic absorption can be tuned by changing the hybrid material properties. The required levels of electrical conductivity are attained owing to the dispersion of low amounts (1–2 wt%) of carbon nanotubes inside the polymermatrix. The combination of the foam and honeycomb architecture contributes to decrease the real part of the relative effective permittivity Re{εr,eff }. Varying the cell shape of the honeycomb changes the frequency range for high absorption. An analytical model for the absorption has been developed, showing good agreement with the experimental results. [less ▲]

A new dispersion technique has been implemented which consists in the polymerization of a monomer in the presence of CNTs in a bad solvent of the polymer. During its formation, the polymer precipitates ... [more ▼]

A new dispersion technique has been implemented which consists in the polymerization of a monomer in the presence of CNTs in a bad solvent of the polymer. During its formation, the polymer precipitates and entraps all the CNTs. Thanks to the establishment of a suitable CNTs dispersion, this method promotes much higher electrical conductivity in the resulting nanocomposite than more conventional techniques, i.e. melt-mixing and co-precipitation. Moreover, the quantity of solvent required is much lower than in the co-precipitation method that makes this process industrially viable. One potential application of these nanocomposites has been demonstrated by the preparation of foams using the supercritical CO2 technology that present very high electromagnetic interference (EMI) absorbing properties since more than 90% of the incoming power being absorbed in the foam. [less ▲]

Electromagnetic (EM) interferences are ubiquitous in modern technologies and impact on the reliability of electronic devices and on living cells. Shielding by EM absorption, which is preferable over ... [more ▼]

Electromagnetic (EM) interferences are ubiquitous in modern technologies and impact on the reliability of electronic devices and on living cells. Shielding by EM absorption, which is preferable over reflection in certain instances, requires combining a low dielectric constant with high electrical conductivity, which are antagonist properties in the world of materials. A novel class of hybrid materials for EM absorption in the gigahertz range has been developed based on a hierarchical architecture involving a metallic honeycomb filled with a carbon nanotube-reinforced polymer foam. The waveguide characteristics of the honeycomb combined with the performance of the foam lead to unexpectedly large EM power absorption over a wide frequency range, superior to any known material. The peak absorption frequency can be tuned by varying the shape of the honeycomb unit cell. A closed form model of the EM reflection and absorption provides a tool for the optimization of the hybrid. This designed material sets the stage for a new class of sandwich panels combining high EM absorption with mass efficiency, stiffness and thermal management. [less ▲]